IN January, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would conduct five local inquiries into the rape gangs which have terrorised so many innocent children.
Local inquiries are not enough.
Unlike national statutory inquiries, they can’t compel witnesses, they can’t look at themes across the country, and they can’t address national policy problems, such as how to deport who are foreign nationals.
But now even this commitment to local inquiries has been watered down further.
Rather than proper local inquiries conducted by independent barristers, instead the Government is “developing a best practice framework”; for “local inquiries or related work”;.
“Following feedback from local authorities”; — many of whom stand accused of covering up these disgusting crimes — the Government “will adopt a more flexible approach”;.
Disturbing and upsetting
— the systematic rapes and sexual torture — committed by these are almost unspeakable in their horror and obscenity. Some of the details are available in judgments published online.
These are disturbing and upsetting, but I encourage you to read them if you can bear it.
We must look this depravity squarely in the face.
The girls we are talking about (there were also some male victims) are predominantly white.
The men who preyed on them were predominantly Asian Muslims, generally either from or of Pakistani heritage.
One of the victims from Dewsbury was told by her rapist, “We’re here to f**k all the white girls and f**k the government.”;
This shows that at least some, and very possibly many, of these crimes were racially and religiously aggravated.
We also know that the demographics of the perpetrators and the victims were partly behind the complete failure of the British state to do something about this earlier.
In 2010, suppressed a report on how were sexually grooming girls, targeting and children’s , over fears the findings would trigger racial tensions.
Or, as they put it, “the predominant offender profile of Pakistani Muslim males . . . combined with the predominant victim profile of white females has the potential to cause significant community tensions.”;
How, without a national inquiry, can we understand what part all these factors played?
There is no question that the state has failed these children time and again
There is no question that the state has failed these children time and again.
Take the case of “Anna”; from Bradford.
Vulnerable and in residential care, at the age of 14 she made repeated reports of rape and abuse to the social workers who were responsible for her.
But just the following year, aged 15, she “married”; her abuser in a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony.
Far from stepping in to stop it, her social worker went along to the “marriage”;. The authorities then arranged for her to be fostered by her abuser’s parents.
The ringleader of the , , was employed as a welfare rights officer by Oldham Council.
And yet not one person — not one — has been convicted for covering up these institutional- ised rapes.
So why have ministers refused to establish a dedicated unit in the National Crime Agency to investigate councillors and officials accused of collusion and corruption?
Sadly, that unit must also investigate police officers. In one case, the father of an abuse victim in was arrested by when he attempted to rescue his daughter from her abusers.
He was detained twice in one night while, on the very same evening, his daughter was repeatedly assaulted and abused by a gang of men.
We deserve to know the truth. What darker truths does the suffering of these girls reveal about this country? And why won’t the Government find out?
It is clear these vile criminals were unafraid of law enforcement.
In Kirklees, Judge Marson told one of the men, “You were seen with her on at least three occasions by the police . . .  none of that deterred you, and you continued to rape her.”;
How, without a national inquiry, can we know how and why these monsters enjoyed effective immunity for so long, and how can we be sure it will not happen again?
Will not stop fighting
We, the in , have voted for a national inquiry, and tabled amendments to the Police And Crime Bill which would guarantee the publication of ethnicity data on a quarterly basis, terminate the parental rights of convicted sex offenders, and make membership of a grooming gang an aggravating factor during sentencing so that offenders get the longer, harsher sentences that they deserve.
We very much hope the Government will adopt these amendments to protect our children.
And we will not stop fighting for a national inquiry.
But this is not about us. This is not about politicians. This is about the little girls up and down our country whose brutal and repeated rapes were permitted and hidden by those in the British state whose job was to protect them.
They deserve justice.
In five towns, these children and their families may get partial answers.
But I have mentioned five towns just in these few paragraphs alone, and there are at least 45 more. In those places, they will get no answers at all.
And neither will the British people.
We deserve to know the truth. What darker truths does the suffering of these girls reveal about this country? And why won’t the Government find out?
